Can stigma become a resource? The mobilisation of aesthetic–corporal capital by female immigrant entrepreneurs from Brazil

Abstract

The proportion and visibility of Brazilian women and particularly the specific images of Brazil and Brazilians in the Portuguese imaginary have contributed to the construction of new versions of stigma and stereotypes surrounding them. Mainstream images of Brazilian women have incorporated prejudices about the sensuality of Creole women who are reminiscent of the Portuguese colonial imaginary. Starting from this stigmatised image, we show how Brazilian women entrepreneurs in the ‘beauty’ business filière reinterpret and mobilise this perceived negative image, transforming it into an added value associated with an ‘aesthetic’ Brazilian body culture. This idea of ‘body’ aesthetics becomes a business resource transformed into aesthetic–corporal capital, a key component of the Brazilian beauty business filière. Empirically, this research is based on qualitative elements, in particular 25 interviews with Brazilian women entrepreneurs of the beauty filière working in Portugal, collected for the project BELTS-W (Brazilian Entrepreneurial Links and Transnational Strategies – Women).

Keywords:

• Brazilian immigrants
• female entrepreneurs
• stereotypes
• colonial imaginary
• aesthetic–corporal capital
• beauty filière

Acknowledgement

This article is an output of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) sponsored project PIHM/GC/0111/2008 and Brazilian Entrepreneurial Links and Transnational Strategies-Women (BELTS-W).

Notes

1. This project was carried out by a group of researchers from CIES (Lisbon University Institute), SOCIUS (Lisboa School of Economics and Management – Technical University of Lisbon) and CES (University of Coimbra) and for the purpose of providing an encompassing characterisation of the Brazilian population in Portugal based on data collected in a representative sample of questionnaires.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jorge Malheiros

JORGE MALHEIROS is Associate Professor in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Lisbon.

Beatriz Padilla

BEATRIZ PADILLA is Associate Professor in the Social Science Institute at the University of Minho.